Natasha Lomas
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
WhatsApp challenge to decision that led to $267M GDPR fine tossed by EU court
More bad news for Meta in Europe: The tech giant has lost an attempt to annul a binding decision on its messaging app, WhatsApp, taken by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) last summer —
Meta’s behavioral ads will finally face GDPR privacy reckoning in January
Major privacy complaints targeting the legality of Meta’s core advertising business model in Europe have finally been settled via a dispute resolution mechanism baked into the EU’s General Data Pr
ChatGPT shrugged
ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s designed to help people communicate with computers in a more natural and intuitive way — using natural language processing (NLP) t
Gift Guide: More than 20 STEM gift ideas to inspire kids to code
All aboard the learn-to-code train! As another holiday season looms and kids everywhere start clamouring for shiny stuff, we’ve got you covered with a bumper edition of our annual STEM gift guid
Musk at Twitter has ‘huge work’ ahead to comply with EU rules, warns bloc
European Union regulators have fired another warning shot at Elon Musk over his erratic piloting of Twitter since his takeover last month — saying he has “huge work” ahead if the soc
Adtech antitrust class damages claim filed against Google in UK — seeking up to $16.3BN
Litigation against Google and its parent entity Alphabet being brought in the U.K. on behalf of thousands of digital publishers — seeking up to £13.6 billion (~$16.3 billion) in damages on thei
Twitter says it’s no longer enforcing COVID-19 misleading information policy
Twitter is no longer enforcing its policy against misleading information about COVID-19, per an update posted to an official company blog page. Reuters spotted the change earlier — which said th
UK confirms removal of Online Safety Bill’s ‘legal but harmful’ clause
The U.K. government has completed a major revision to controversial but populist online safety legislation that’s been in the works for years — and was finally introduced to parliament ear
Microsoft 365 faces darkening GDPR compliance clouds after German report
Legal trouble may be brewing for Microsoft in the European Union, where an assessment by a working group of German data protection regulators that’s spent around two years looking into a swathe
Meta hit with ~$275M GDPR penalty for Facebook data-scraping breach
Facebook’s parent, Meta, has been hit with another hefty penalty for breaching European data protection law. The €265 million (~$275 million) fine was announced today by the Irish Data Protect
UK expands Online Safety Bill to criminalize encouraging self harm
The U.K. government has said it will further expand the scope of online safety legislation by criminalizing the encouragement of self-harm — in a bid to tackle what it describes as “tragic
UK to criminalize deepfake porn sharing without consent
Brace for yet another expansion to the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill: The Ministry of Justice has announced changes to the law that are aimed at protecting victims of revenge porn, pornographic deep
Twitter layoffs trigger oversight risk warning from Brussels
In another move that’s being frowned upon by European Union regulators, Elon Musk-owned Twitter has closed its Brussels office per a report in the Financial Times — citing sources with kno
Surveillance powers in UK’s Online Safety Bill are risk to E2EE, warns legal expert
Independent legal analysis of a controversial U.K. government proposal to regulate online speech under a safety-focused framework — aka the Online Safety Bill — says the draft bill contain
Meta’s VR remains under antitrust abuse watch in Germany
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) is claiming credit for Meta untying its virtual reality headsets from its social accounts — a change of direction the company announced back in August
UK confirms antitrust probe of Android-iOS ‘mobile duopoly’ focused on browsers and cloud gaming
The U.K.’s antitrust watchdog has moved to deepen its scrutiny of the Apple and Google mobile duopoly — kicking off an in-depth investigation into elements of the pair’s mobile ecosy
Musk’s impact on content moderation at Twitter faces early test in Germany
A German law requiring social media platforms to promptly respond to reports of hate speech — and in some cases remove illegal speech within 24 hours of it being brought to their attention ̵
Meta’s surveillance biz model targeted in UK ‘right to object’ GDPR lawsuit
Meta’s surveillance-based business model is facing an interesting legal challenge in the U.K. from an individual who’s suing over its continued processing of her data for ad targeting R
EU’s Digital Services Act enters into force — but no confirm if Twitter will feel its full force yet
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) enters into force today — setting the clock ticking on designations that will determine which larger Internet platforms face an extra layer
After key privacy and security departures last week, Twitter names ‘acting DPO’
Following a flurry of resignations of senior Twitter privacy and security staffers late last week, the social media firm has informed its lead data protection regulator in the European Union that it h